Batting

Kissimmee, Fla. – The Transylvania softball team continued with Day Six of seven in Florida, splitting a pair of games at the Rebel Spring Games.

In game one, the Pioneers needed extra innings against the Case Western Reserve Spartans before the Spartans collected an eight-inning 3-0 win. Transylvania bounced back with a 2-1 win against the Mount St. Mary College Knights in the second game of the afternoon.

With today's results the Pioneers move to 9-5 overall, and 8-2 against competition in Florida.

Game One

The Pioneers and Spartans engaged in a defensive marathon that went scoreless through seven regulation innings despite featuring 13 hits between the two teams.

Junior pitcher Renae Morton got the start for the Pioneers and came up with another impressive outing, ringing up five strikeouts while allowing just one walk. Her peer, Spartans pitcher Annie Wennerberg, was as impressive, allowing zero earned runs in eight innings and a strikeout. Both pitchers were the story of the day as each pitched eight innings.

One of Transylvania's simmering scoring opportunities arose in the second inning, as sophomore outfielder Shelbi Poehlein led off the inning with a single into left field, and was moved to second with a sacrifice bunt from freshman infielder Janelle Hynes.

Junior outfielder Madison Dorsey hit a two-out single to move Poehlein to third, but freshman catcher Janette Hynes popped up to end the inning.

The Pioneers had another opportunity in the fifth inning with two runners aboard, but a double play ended the inning to continue the scoreless bout.

The Spartans found the magic touch in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI single from Katie Wede to hand her team a 1-0 lead. With two outs, the Spartans tacked on two more runs for insurance on a two-run double from Grace Tritchler.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Pioneers formulated a gallant response, adding a runner aboard along with the international-rule runner in junior outfielder Destiny Garcia, who was moved to third with sophomore outfielder Shelby Gambrell's one-out base hit. But the Spartans were able to retire the rest of the side with consecutive pop-ups to bring the game to a close.

Poehlein led the Pioneers with a 2-for-3 day at the plate. Dorsey went for 1-for-2 for Transylvania with the lone walk drawn.

Game Two

The Pioneers used their final game of the day to shake off their extra-inning result against Case Western.

Transylvania received a balanced team effort from its pitching corps in game two, as sophomores Jenna Stiles, Jordan Kramer, and Meg Liter teamed up to hold the Knights to just one run over seven innings. Kramer worked innings four through six and tallied a team-high three strikeouts and a walk during her time in the circle.

The Pioneers had to exercise patience on offense in their second game while Mt. St. Mary tacked on its first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning off of a one-out RBI triple. But the first score of the game would also transpire to be the final score for the Knights.

After enduring four scoreless innings, the Pioneers found the runs they craved in the fifth inning. Poehlein kept her bat hot with a leadoff base hit to centerfield, and catcher Jessica Powell followed up with a base hit of her own.

Dorsey made her way to first on an error by the Mt. St. Mary first baseman as Poehlein made her way home from third to register the tying run. With two outs and a chance to escape the inning, Mt. St. Mary was unable to handle a fly ball to center field from Gambrell, and pinch runner Kenzy Moore scored on the play for the go-ahead run.

Kramer and Liter combined to blank the Knights for the final three innings as the Pioneers claimed a critical win with one day remaining in their Florida trip.

Five different Pioneers collected hits against Mt. St. Mary.

The Pioneers will wrap up their time at the Rebel Spring Games with a 9:00 a.m. game versus Luther College and an 11:15 a.m. contest against William Paterson University.

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